Cocking device for automatic firearms having a sliding barrel and a bolted breech



Oct. 6, 1936. K. KEHNE COCKING DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC FIREARMS HAVING A SLIDING BARREL AND A BOLTED BREECH Filed NOV. 6, 1953 v 0 0 0 d c Patented Oct. 6, 1936 UNITE STATS COOKING DEVICE FOR AUTOMATIC FIRE- ARMS HAVING A SLIDING BARREL AND A BOLTED BREECH Karl Kehne, Dusseldorf-Obrkassel, Germany, assignor to Wafienfabrik Solothurn A. G., Solothurn, Switzerland, a land corporation of Switzer- Application November 6, 1933, Serial No. 696,894 In Germany March 11, 1933 2 Claims.

In the case of automatic firearms having a sliding barrel and a bolted breech, of large cali bre for instance of the order of magnitude of 2 cm. calibre and upwards, the opening of the breech for the purpose of loading the weapon occasionally involves considerable difliculty because at least in the first part of the opening movement up to the unbolting of the breech, the resistance of the means of retraction, i. e. the closing spring for the breech and also the retraction device for the barrel, which are generally arranged separately, must be overcome. These opposing forces are so great that it is only by very great exertion on the part of the gunner that they can be overcome by means of the rectilinearly moved handle on the breech such as is usually provided in the case of machine guns of small calibre.

In order to facilitate the loading of large-bore guns of this kind, the invention provides a cocking device which, for the common return travel of the barrel and breech up to the point at which unbolting occurs, brings into action between these parts and the hand of the gunner a transmission device which assists the hand pull.

With this object in view, in a particularly advantageous form of construction, the handle for drawing back the barrel and breech members is designed in the form of a lever which is pivotally mounted on a longitudinally sliding member in the frame of the gun, which lever by a shorter arm of the breech block bolted to the barrel in the forward position, imparts backward movement of at least the length of the course necessary for the unbolting of the breech, and then, while continuing the movement in a straight line, moves the unbolted breech alone further back.

With this arrangement, for the entire process of opening the breech, only a moderate pull need be applied to the handle, said pull, during the temporary opposing action of the two means of retraction, being strengthened to a sufiicient extent as a result of the mechanical advantage of the lever system.

A typical embodiment of the subject of the invention is shown in the drawing,

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through the middle part of the firearm.

Fig. 2 is a plan view on a middle section of a firearm showing the cooking device according to the invention, the cocking lever being pulled back from the position shown in dot and dash lines, and

Fig. 3 is a cross-section taken on line III-III of Fig. 2.

The frame a of the weapon is closed at the top in known manner by a cover member on accommodating the breech retractor spring do and also accommodating the barrel b1 together with the breech casing 12 seated thereon, so as to be capable of longitudinal displacement against the action of the running out spring be. The breech c which slides in the casing b is provided with an arm 01 which protrudes laterally through a longitudinal slot in the housing, with which, for the loading of the weapon, the cooking lever cl engages. This lever d is pivotally mounted about the pin th in the sliding member 6 which slides in the longitudinal guideway a2, and rests with a pin d3, arranged at its lower side, in the vicinity of its pivotal axis, in front of the arm 01 of the breech.

A spring plunger 1 mounted in the cover member d1 of the weapon, by its engagement with the projection d4 on the free end of the cooking lever carrying at the top the handle do, on one hand secures the cooking lever folded down against the frame of the gun against involuntary swinging out from its position of rest and on the other hand also prevents the cocking lever support e resting at the front against the edge (to of the frame from moving backwards.

In order to cock and load the gun, the handle do is first of all drawn out sideways from the dot and dash line position to the full line position until the spring plunger f comes out of engagement, and the handle is then drawn backwards. In this operation it swings about its pivot di, and after a certain idle movement, by contact of its pin do with the arm 01 takes the breech, together with the breech casing b bolted thereto, and the barrel 221, against the action of the barrel and breech retraction springs bo and co, with a force which is increased in proportion to the length of the lever arms dod1 to d1d3; backwards until the beech is unbolted from the breech casing and the barrel, and is disconnected from these parts.

On a further pull being applied to the lever do which is now directed backwards, its hitherto swinging movement becomes a straight-line movement, in which its support e joins, and which returns the breech, under the tension merely of its own closing spring, into the rear end position.

If the tension lever d is now released it swings forward under the action of a spring d2 mounted in its pivot d1 up to the frame of the weapon, and then, together with its sliding member e, is carried along by the forwardly moving breech into its position of rest, in which it remains secured v by the plunger 1, even during the subsequent movements of the barrel and breech during firing. I claim: 7

1. An automatic firearm having a short recoil barrel and a longitudinally movable breech latchable to the barrel, comprising separate run out means for the barrel and breech, means for cocking the firearm manually consisting of a cocking lever rotatably mounted on the firearm for the common retraction of the barrel and breech and longitudinally s lidable for furthen'withdrawing the unlatched breech alone into the cocked position, and a spring pressed plunger provided onthe barrel which engages with the front end 'of the cocking lever to prevent involuntary swinging'of the leverrin its position of non-use.

alone further back.

2. Ari automatic firearm comprising a frame, a breech block having an arm, a slidable memher, a rotatably mounted locking lever pivotally mounted on the sliding member longitudinally guided in the frame of the gun and engaging with t-hebreecma handle on the outer end of the cocking leveriand a pin near its pivotal end, said pin in rotating the lever abutting against said arm of the breech block'exerting a thrust for common return travel of, the locked breech and barrel up to at least their point of unlocking position, and then continuing the cocking movement in a straight line for moving the unbolted breech KARL KEHN'E. 

